How To Collect Consumer Data From Your Spiff Programs

Most experienced business leaders understand that incentivizing employees and salespeople to maximize the number of sales is an important key to success. While these incentives can often increase sales, there are often overlooked important pieces of consumer data collection that could further increase the company’s return on a product investment or sale. SPIF programs are important because they provide salespeople with a monetary incentive for making sales; however, there is also important consumer data collection that a company can aquire using a SPIF program that could help them increase their revenue generation.

What Items are Commonly Sold Together?

One of the first pieces of consumer data collection that SPIF programs can provide is the types of items that are commonly sold together. When a salesperson makes a sale, they receive a bonus from the SPIF program; however, the salesperson can also provide the company with information regarding what other items the customer purchased. Some items that a customer might commonly purchase include:

A swimsuit and goggles

Tennis racket and tennis balls

A car and a warranty

A washer and a dryer

While these are relatively obvious and straightforward partner sales, it is important because the company can use this information to push a customer to purchase more than one item. For example, if a salesperson knows that a person is coming in to purchase a car, they could also try and convince the person to purchase a warranty for that vehicle as well. Using a SPIF program, the salesperson could be incentivized with an extra bonus that would be paid out if they convinced the customer to purchase more than one item. Furthermore, the company could use this information to promote sales on similar items at the same time, further incentivizing the customer to purchase these items together. In this fashion, the SPIF program could increase the number of sales by encouraging the customer to purchase more than one item. Solid consumer data collection is vital to this process.

When do Sales Peak During the Day and Week?

Consumer Data collection during a SPIFF program can help predict when the sale of certain items peaks during the day or week. For example, the company could look at when their salespeople are making sales on certain items and track the ebb and flow of these sales over the course of the day or week. If the company notices that during certain times of day their sales are dropping, they could probably afford to have fewer employees on the floor at that time. This is one of the ways consumer data collection could help to save money. On the other hand, if the company would like to increase the number of sales during that time of day, they could also run “flash” sales at certain times of the day to increase the foot traffic. Furthermore, companies could track which days of the week are slower than others and respond accordingly. For example:

Many movie theaters run sales on Tuesdays because these are slow days during the week

Some airlines drop their ticket prices on Tuesdays because these are slow sale days for the airlines

Restaurants are often closed one day during the week. This is the day that is often the slowest.

Consumer data collection during a SPIFF program enables companies to gather information on their slow days and then alter the incentives of their SPIF program or alter the pricing of their products on slow days to increase the number of sales.

Attach SPIF Incentives to Sales Surveys

When customers purchase a product, it can be helpful to attach a survey to the end of the sale to aid consumer data collection. In order to incentivize customers to complete these surveys, it may be a good idea to enter the customers into a raffle to win a prize, such as a company gift card. Take the information from the survey and roll it into a SPIF incentive. For example, sales people that receive high scores on evaluations and surveys from customers can be eligible for an additional bonus. In this manner, the SPIF program can be used to incentivize fantastic customer service. Furthermore, companies can also use consumer data collection to figure out if different salespeople do a better job of selling certain products. For example, companies that sell a wide variety of technology products may have salespeople that understand one type of product better than another. This can be reflected in the varying scores that salespeople may have when trying to sell different products. This can help companies place their salespeople in a position to sell products that they are intimately familiar with, increasing the opportunity of making a sale while providing exceptional service at the same time.

Salespeople Often Have Inside Information on a Certain Product

When salespeople are incentivized to sell a certain product, they are often willing to provide information regarding how the product stacks up against the other items in the field. For example, it seems like every week a new phone, tablet, or computer is being released. Car companies are releasing new models of their vehicles on an annual basis. Sometimes, it can be a challenge for business leaders to remain up to date on what their competitors are doing because they are too busy making improvements on their own designs. Salespeople often have time to explore what their competitors are doing because they are busy trying to convince the customer to buy one product over another. Therefore, salespeople can come to the business leadership and explain where the product is weak and how it can improve. The SPIF program can even be improved to incentivize salespeople with rewards for improvements that they pitch regarding a certain product that then gets incorporated into the final design. Consumer data collection through the whole process provides companies with more information to make better sales decisions.

Use Salespeople to Find Complaints and Suggestions from Customers Regarding a Product

In addition to taking suggestions from the salespeople, make sure that the salespeople are listening to the complaints and suggestions from the customer. Often, the customer will ask whether or not a certain product performs a function because they have seen it in the competitors’ offers. For example, certain phone cameras may perform certain functions that other models do not. Some cars come with advanced safety features not offered by other models. Some computers may have features regarding their processing speed, memory space, or screen resolution that other computers may not have. Salespeople hear these questions from customers who desire these features in a certain product and consumer data collection is vital during this process. Salespeople can bring these complaints and suggestions to the company leadership which may be incorporated into future products. Furthermore, a SPIF program can be incentivized to incentive salespeople who bring these complaints and compliments to the company leadership. If future product designs incorporate these suggestions, perhaps the salesperson can be rewarded for their suggestion.